esrosedotblog

I just finished reading

This Town by Mark LeibovichIt is like a 3 out of 5. Maybe a 4 in the beginning and then gets old.

Leibovich is a NYTimes writer and has been working the DC beat for quite awhile.

Here he bites some hands that fed him. I am not sure, after this, whether he will be having quite so many lunches or phone calls. But he is nice to some people.

And the book has a short shelf life. It covers several years and ends with the Obama second term.

I don't normally read this kind of "inside baseball" book. After time with blogs and the like, I sort of have enough info to know that there are opportunists on every corner and double dealing in every little garden patch.

Here, Leibovich is funny and smart and a good writer. It is like reading a screen play.

But he is nasty and self serving despite a few mea culpas and fake humility.

I stayed with it. Learned a little. Had some fun at others' expense. The American schadenfreude syndrome.

And the last pages were a slog.

If you read it, wear an apron or coveralls.

Labels: books